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Feeling a bit like ‘Bear Grills’ but armed with a visual timetable and taking a lot of deep breaths! We have ‘survived’ the first week of the holidays, (or ‘winged’ it!)

We haven’t been very blessed with the weather this week (typical start!) And we’ve had to do a lot of indoor activities as both my girls are outdoor fans! We had planned to get out for walks and the park, especially to burn off energy but sadly, struggled.

Keeping our fingers crossed for better weather next week!

On Monday we established some house and outdoor visit ‘House Rules,’ where I sat with Lou and she helped to come up with some rules such as “we are safe inside,” and used the example of when she launches herself off the furniture!

If there is screaming at the top of her lungs (there has been a fair amount this week!) We refer back to the rules which she helped to create, I find that Lou does like rules and boundaries and the fact she helped to create them has given her back some of the control that she thrives on.

Every morning Lou has arranged her visual timetable with what is happening each day, this has reduced some of the element of uncertainty and we refer back to it if she is getting anxious about what is happening next.

The activities we have done this week were:

1. Sensory Dough – we added some drops of Lavender oil to the ingredients, Lavender has been used in our house in the past few weeks in the form of burning oils and room spray as it has had a calming effect on both girls, especially Lou. I realise I had run out of blue or pink colourings to make the dough purple so we added orange instead!

2. Rainbow Cookies – Lou loves the sensory element of cooking and used her rolling and cutting skills to make the cookie shapes, they came out quite big!

3. Free-choice craft and ‘Shopkins Shaker Maker.’ Lou loves a bit of craft, I’ve always found it calming for her and her concentration improves, she thoroughly enjoyed painting her ‘Shopkins’ figures that she made from a ‘shaker maker’ kit she had for her birthday. Lou also enjoys selecting her own craft materials from our craft box and creating something of her own choice.

This activity can be completed on the table, but we placed a floor covering down and found it was easier on the floor. The bottom of the bottles leave a fantastic pattern on the paper which look like flowers, it also gives a good effect when the bottles are repeatedly printed to produce a lovely spotty pattern of varying colours.

This activity could be extended by using different sized bottles and ones with different types of bottoms to produce varying prints.

‘Cloud Dough’
I’ve been wanting to try this out with Lou for a while now, I used to make it for the children I worked with in the nursery. We used baby oil and plain flour to make a very soft consistency, you can use food colouring but we left it plain. We did this outside with a tray as it does create quite a lot of mess! Lou loved the way she could create shape moulds with the dough she said “it’s like my motion sand!” Sensory Play Dough

I made play dough using our normal recipe of:
2 cups plain flour
2 cups salt
2 cups water
2 table spoons of oil
2 tea spoons of Cream of Tartar
In the past I’ve then added to the microwave but I’ve found that adding boiling water works just as well.
I coloured the dough pink with food colouring and added Cinnamon. Lou liked smelling the dough and creating her own cupcakes.

Glittery Foam

Lou requested to have foam outside so I used shaving foam and to add an extra touch, glitter. She absolutely loved getting it on her hands! Spaghetti, pasta and rice play.

I am hoping to buy a ‘Tuff Spot’ or ‘Builder’s tray’ for sensory/messy play purposes. But for now I used an old under the bed storage box to put some rice, pasta and spaghetti in, both girls immediately wanted to get inside to sit amongst the materials! They used tea set items to transfer the rice, etc. Moo wanted to eat the pasta!
Thanks for reading 🙂

Let’s Share ~ Sensory/Craft Ideas.
We love Sensory/Messy Play in our household, I’ve created a Link-up where other bloggers can share their photos of Sensory/Messy play and/or Craft ideas, along with a description and any list of resources/ingredients/equipment used.

I have learnt that to share ideas is a fab thing. I’d also love to hear posts about any classes or groups that you have attended with your children, such as messy play groups, etc.

If you are not a blogger, I’d still love to hear from you as you can always send me an email at:

Last summer I included a lot of Sensory/Messy Play and Craft ideas, via sharing photos of what we have done on my blog and Facebook Blog page. This was after planning a ‘Sensory Diet’ for Lou as she is a huge ‘Sensory Seeker,’ and she thrives on these type of activities.

I have recently had to reduce my work load due to ongoing back problems, whilst I await treatment, which I have been upset about as working in Early Years settings is all I’ve ever known. What I realised recently is that I can use my knowledge of early years activities to share ideas, especially as sensory play and craft are huge areas of my interests, and I do a lot of these types of activities at home with both Lou and Moo.

I also hope to share a range of new reward charts that I’m currently putting together, I’m having to change Lou’s ‘Frozen’ chart to her new interest of ‘Trolls.’

We cannot wait to get started on more sensory/messy activities as the weather starts to improve, we spent so many hours in the garden last spring and summer, and I have ordered Lou a ‘Tuff Spot,’ or ‘Builder’s tray’ to explore many of her favourite and new materials.

And of course it had to be pink!

What I hope to do now is to create a ‘Linky’ where other bloggers can link up their photos of Sensory/Messy play and/or Craft ideas, along with a description and any list of resources/ingredients/equipment used.

I have learnt that to share ideas is a fab thing. I’d also love to hear posts about any classes or groups that you have attended with your children, such as messy play groups, etc.

If you are not a blogger, I’d still love to hear from you as you can always send me an email at:

The last time we had an entire day without a meltdown, or ‘Sensory Overload,’ (as I like to call them,) was on Christmas Day 2015. When these unique days occur I get a feeling of “is this where it all changes?” But I know in my heart, this was a ‘one-off.’

Yesterday Moo (22 months,) had a day with Daddy and it was just myself and Lou at home. We made Gingerbread biscuits and iced them, as this was related to Lou receiving a ‘Gold Award’ during her school assembly for creating a craft Gingerbread man for her homework.

We also looked at books, we watched ‘Zootropolis’ – which is quickly replacing ‘Rio’ as the film that Lou insists on watching everyday! And we watched all the way through – which is unusual for me as I’ve only ever seen the start and the end! We explored many of Lou’s new Christmas presents, such as ‘BloPens’ which she was very good at – mummy = not so good!!!

Lou only had to be reminded once to listen or be calm from 10am until 5pm and I was astounded! Lou had my full attention without Moo, who she still has jealousy issues with.

In comparison, today has been very tricky, we have been tested once again, spat at, hit at and shouted at. Lou has been extremely hyperactive, demanding and has found it difficult to stick to any type of activity. She has difficulty playing independently and choosing her own activities, and struggles to play alone – craving the attention of an adult every minute that she is awake. The girls have a wide range of toys – dolls, books, puzzles, small world, bricks, etc, but we have to give her a choice of 2 different activities.

As Lou responds so well to a structured school routine, I am having constant battles in my head as to what to offer her at home, we do all we possibly can – I could sit with Lou the whole time she is awake but then what happens on the days when I’m alone with the girls and Moo isn’t given attention, this simply wouldn’t work. We would also have no clean clothes or dishes! We use visual timetables and explain everything that is happening, however, I am reluctant to turn my home into a school-type environment, with a routine for 7 days per week, surely a child’s brain will overload at some point?

I tried to do a few similar activities today and Lou wasn’t in the slightest bit interested, it proves what I’m always banging on about, that she has to be in a particular type of mood to respond to certain activities.

Still, I will relish the outstanding day we had, the experiences we shared and carry on looking for the best methods that work for our brilliant masker girly!

We made it!!! I can’t believe the end of the summer holidays is here! We have managed a lot of sensory and craft activities and it’s kept Lou going, along with some play dates, trips out, parties and weekly sessions at the SMILE therapy centre in Malvern. As with any plans, we didn’t achieve everything and had to alter things here and there depending on the weather and availability of materials. But I’m proud of what we’ve achieved.

This week:

1. Family time.

On bank holiday Monday we had a family barbecue and Lou received a watch ready for starting school. Lou has been fascinated with time for a while now and she’s picking it up really well. It helps her to understand things like “when the hand gets to the 6 it’s time to…”

The girls also received a play kitchen as a gift. Playing ‘shops’ has been a favourite for a while now, this kept them occupied for hours!

2. Last play therapy session of these holidays.

On Tuesday Lou had her weekly session at the SMILE Centre in Malvern. We were lucky that it was a beautiful day and we were able to visit the park opposite the centre. The girls were so happy to see that there were baby ducklings! We absolutely love Malvern, it’s one of my all time favourite places, I hope to take the girls up the Malvern Hills when they are a bit older.

This week’s SMILE session was for Lou to make her own scones. I was amazed that the recipe that the staff had found used lemonade and double cream with self-raising flour to create the scones, which I’d never heard of before! Lou was able to feel the textures of all the ingredients and absolutely loved mixing it all together with her hands, the mixture foamed up once the lemonade was added! Lou got the chance to try Lemonade for the first time but she wasn’t keen as she said: “the bubbles are getting in my face!”

The scones were baked and we got to taste them and took loads home! It’s amazing how we couldn’t tell the difference with using these ingredients to the usual way we’ve made scones with butter!

We haven’t got a lot of craft done this week, we’ve been busy with appointments, parties, play dates and park visits! It was lovely this week to catch up with people we haven’t seen since the schools broke up, Lou was desperate to spend time some time with her friends, she’s done so incredibly well over the last 4 weeks, out of routine and the structure that an education setting provides, but I felt a bit of “I’m bored with you now mummy” this week! I can’t believe we’ve already done 4 weeks, I think the last 2 weeks will surely fly by!

Activities this week:

1. ‘Cloud Dough’

I’ve been wanting to try this out with Lou for a while now, I used to make it for the children I worked with in the nursery. We used baby oil and plain flour to make a very soft consistency, you can use food colouring but we left it plain. We did this outside with a tray as it does create quite a lot of mess! Lou loved the way she could create shape moulds with the dough she said “it’s like my motion sand!” 2. Sensory play dough

I made play dough using our normal recipe of:

2 cups plain flour

2 cups salt

2 cups water

2 table spoons of oil

2 tea spoons of Cream of Tartar

In the past I’ve then added to the microwave but I’ve found that adding boiling water works just as well.

I coloured the dough pink with food colouring and added Cinnamon. Lou liked smelling the dough and creating her own cupcakes.

3. Glittery Foam

Lou requested to have foam outside so I used shaving foam and to add an extra touch, glitter. She absolutely loved getting it on her hands!

4. Spaghetti, pasta and rice play.

I am hoping to buy a ‘Tuff Spot’ or ‘Builder’s tray’ for sensory/messy play purposes. But for now I used an old under the bed storage box to put some rice, pasta and spaghetti in, both girls immediately wanted to get inside to sit amongst the materials! They used tea set items to transfer the rice, etc. Moo wanted to eat the pasta!

5. Nature shot of the week

There was excitement on Thursday evening when a hot air balloon went straight over our house and landed only a few fields away!

6. Baking ~ Cupcakes

We made some cupcakes for Lou’s friends’ joint 3rd and 4th party. It’s strange how Lou just wants the icing off the cake – yet I gave her a bit of icing and sprinkles in a bowl and she said “I don’t want this mummy!”

This week was a big one for me, some very positive steps forward in terms of my Blogging:

I was asked by a local children’s centre to help run a group for parents that have children with additional needs, I will update more on this as I find out more.

I was approached by the charity Family Fund, who I write posts for, if they could use one of my photos in their marketing materials 🙂 this was the first time that I’ve received recognition for my photography. I now hope to pursue this and get a better camera than just taking pictures on my smart phone!

This photo was a natural photo taken on the spur-of-the-moment whilst Lou was going through the tunnel at a local park.

We’re now looking forward to week 5 🙂 Where I’ll be labelling lots of school uniform and thinking about the complicated task of school shoes!
Thanks for reading 🙂